Mental health in Russia
Mental health in Russia is covered by a law, known under its official name—the Law of the Russian Federation “On Psychiatric Care and Guarantees of Citizens’ Rights during Its Provision”; Russian: Зако́н Росси́йской Федера́ции «О психиатри́ческой по́мощи и гара́нтиях прав гра́ждан при её оказа́нии», Zakon Possiyskoy Federatsii "O psikhiatricheskoy pomoshchi i garantyakh prav grazhdan pri yeyo okazanii"), which is the basic legal act that regulates psychiatric care in the Russian Federation and applies not only to persons with mental disorders but all citizens. An notable exception of this rule is those vested with parliamentary or judicial immunity. Providing psychiatric care is regulated by a special law regarding guarantees of citizens’s rights.
Due to this fact, it is acknowledged that functions of psychiatry are not limited to identifying and removing biological anomalies that cause "mental illnesses", caring for patients and alleviating their sufferings, but they also apply to the scope of their civil rights. The passage of the law was one of the five conditions for the membership of the All-Union Society of Psychiatrists and Neuropathologists in the World Psychiatric Association. The law passed on 2 July 1992 and received the number 3185-1.
There was an increasingly decentralised approach to psychiatric care before 1917, with smaller hospitals (10 to 20 beds), more out-patient clinics, and some collaboration with private practice. Psychiatrists were expected to deal with general medical issues and problems relating to epidemic and infectious diseases, witness corporal punishment and attend executions. After the 1905 Russian Revolution there was an influx of political prisoners into asylums. Local zemstovs provided two-thirds of the funding for psychiatric services and the central government one third.
The Commissariat of Public Health established the Psychiatry Commission in October 1917. Psychiatrists were given greater control over hospitals. The head of the hospital was elected. Psychiatric services were funded by central government. Support services for mentally ill soldiers were provided by the Russian Red Cross Society until they were taken over by the Commissariat of Public Health in 1919. They appointed a psychiatrist/neurologist consultant for the Red Army.
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